The Denver district attorney’s office will not prosecute a police officer who shot and killed a dog on the loose two weeks ago in northwest Denver.

After receiving the police department’s internal investigation into the shooting incident on Sept. 8, the DA’s office concluded today that a 2-year-old yellow Labrador retriever named Rocky had lunged at Officer Michael Felsoci and that he was justified in shooting it.

Felsoci shot the dog in the mouth as it lunged at him, then shot it again in the back after it turned and ran away, said DA spokesperson Lynn Kimbrough.

She said the investigation showed that Rocky earlier had attacked a man in the neighborhood, which prompted an emergency call to police and animal control. The alleged victim never was identified.

The dog’s owner, Katrina Mudgett, said Rocky had never been in trouble before and said the dog lived peacefully with her and her 5-year-old daughter.

The dog got away Sept. 8 and roamed from its home at West 40th Avenue and Osage Street. It met up with another small dog and wandered to a park near Horace Mann Middle School at West 42nd Avenue and Lipan Street while classes were in session.

Originally, police said they had received three emergency phone calls about the dog, then said later that someone had flagged a patrol car to report the dog.

A neighbor, 68-year-old Seferino Quintana, said he saw the two dogs run through a park south of the school toward 40th Avenue, where Officer Felsoci confronted Rocky. Quintana said the dog ran away from Felsoci but that Felsoci chased it while shooting it twice.

“A loose dog never attacks someone unless it’s in its own territory,” Quintana said. “That dog was running from the officer when he shot it the first time.”

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